Life in a Submarine: Tasty, Mullet-Free

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Life in a Submarine: Tasty, Mullet-Free

As the Pentagon, Congress and the shipbuilding industry squabble over how many, and what type, of warships to buy, the focus has been on ships that sail above the waves: carriers, destroyers, Littoral Combat Ships and amphibious vessels. All this attention to surface ships belies an important naval truth. "Maintaining under-sea superiority is the key for enduring U.S. naval superiority," wrote Bob Work, a former analyst now serving as a Navy undersecretary. That means submarines, with their unrivaled stealth and powerful weapons.

The U.S. Navy's attack-sub fleet, with more than 50 boats in three classes, is the world's biggest and most powerful, by far. To maintain this edge, the Navy is upgrading its older Los Angeles-class boats with new computers, and boosting the build rate on newer Virginia-class boats, from one a year, to two.

As important as submarines are, you rarely hear about them, owing to the undersea service's culture of secrecy. To shed a little light on the sub fleet, two reporters recently embarked for short cruises. Bryan William Jones, a contributor to my personal blog, joined USS *Toledo *in Florida, while Star & Stripes reporter Erik Slavin embarked on USS Seawolf in the Pacific. Slavin's reports about "life in a metal tube" are a must-read. Among his discoveries:

* The food is the best in the military. "Short ribs, roast beef and shrimp get served with potatoes, salad and soups daily," Slavin writes.

* Six months underwater, with no news or Internet access, means sub sailors miss new trends and the expiration of old ones. "After his first deployment in the early ’90s, *Seawolf *Chief of the Boat Jared Hofer, of Freeman, S.D., wondered where all the mullet haircuts had gone and what 'grunge rock' was all about."

* Every submarine recruit gets a thorough psych screening. "What gets people is the confinement and the inability to escape," one sailor said.